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Dear John Just over a week ago Papakura residents and Auckland commuters suffered an emergency on the motorway at Karaka. A truck carrying cannisters of chemicals blew up near Harbourside Drive, very early in the morning. The ensuing gridlock on Papakura roads lasted for hours and under-scored the need for the twice-cancelled Mill Road extension to be done urgently. It also underlined that train transport capacity is greatly reduced at the moment due to closure of the rail lines for maintenance between Manukau and Britomart. Resilient public transport is still a big issue to be addressed for Auckland that has been promised but under-delivered, in the last five years. As you may know there are 176 supposedly ‘shovel-ready’ projects, begun with Covid-19 recovery money, that are stalled. This means the promised infrastructure from them just isn’t being built in a timely or prioritised way. The Leader of the National Opposition Christopher Luxon, in his state of the nation speech, recognises the need to ensure economic policies stand up to the practical tests of every-day life: ‘if it won’t make a meaningful difference to everyday families, business owners, shop owners and workers and exporters, then we won’t pursue it.’ The growing cost of living is the number one economic issue for New Zealanders today. Debt arrears are up, queues for foodbanks are up, anxiety about household finances is rising. This is causing great stress for many in our society. To address this National maintains the orthodox view that the Reserve Bank must return to a single mandate of delivering price stability, with a 1-3 per cent inflation target band. Second, we would unblock major supply-side constraints to productive growth, starting with worker shortages. We will cut through the hold-ups in the immigration system so businesses and hospitals can get the workers they need. Third, we would stop the tidal wave of new costs and regulations that have added more price pressure to everything from food to rent. As many of you know, changing the tax treatment of rental properties has been counterproductive. Officials warned that a Beehive proposal to change the tax treatment of rental properties could increase rents and increase churn in the rental market. That is exactly what has happened when the policy went ahead anyway. We need changes that will back tenants and reduce pressure on rents by restoring interest deductibility for rental properties and we need to roll the Brightline test back to two years. I strongly favour removing the Ute Tax, the Auckland Regional Fuel tax and the proposed “App“ tax that will increase the prices people pay for vehicles, petrol and soon their Airbnb and UberEats too. National will restore discipline to government spending. This will help ease the pressure on inflation and interest rates that has been exacerbated by loose fiscal policy. National will increase the focus on results for money spent and it will allow Government to reduce the tax burden on New Zealanders. Current Government spending is up $1 billion a week since Labour took office in 2017. In the last financial year Government spending crept up to 35 per cent of our economic output – a higher level than we’ve seen in at least 17 years. There has been huge growth in the core public service, with 10,000+ additional public servants being hired into non front-line roles such as policy advice, HR and communications; even while consultancy fees have risen to over $1.7 billion per year. And yet, from elective surgery to emergency care and social housing, waiting lists are bigger and waiting times are longer. Our hospital emergency departments have been overwhelmed on many occasions recently. The Minister of Transport recently announced that the $30 billion Auckland light rail project would start now. Is this realistic for the Government when there are hundreds of kilometres of roads needing urgent repairs and made far worse by the recent disaster and destruction caused by Cyclone Gabrielle? The National Opposition realise there must be a focus on disaster recovery. We will also focus on achieving results that New Zealanders want. We want to achieve more value for Government spending by prioritising better, setting clear public service targets and supporting Government agencies and services especially in Health, Education and Policing, to achieve their goals and fulfil their targets. Mr Luxon said that the National Opposition knows that a strong, growing, productive economy is ultimately driven along by people taking positive action themselves. It is driven by people choosing to put in extra effort, knowing they’ll be rewarded for it and that they have a strongly focussed government that supports them. Best wishes to all, Hon Judith Collins |
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